To be blunt, there is nothing quite like Ristar.
Ristar happened to be one of those unfortunate, excellent titles that shouldv'e got more attention then they did. Granted, there was still some popular games for the Genesis released in 1995, like Vectorman, but not even that game holds a candle to this spunky shooting star. The only thing you can really thank Sega for on Ristar is that it was released as an extra to Sonic Mega Collection and Mega Collection Plus, as the "hardest" game to get a hold of. And, if you haven't tried this game, the $19.99 price on the Mega Collection is worth it JUST for this title. This is arguably the best 2D platformer for the Sega Genesis.
Now, even though the game is about a "shooting star," and he looks somewhat like Sonic, do not think for a second that this is a game anything like the speedy 2D goings Sonic had in the Genesis days. There is no jumping on enemies to kill them anymore. This game is all about grabbing enemies and head-butting them and swinging around poles that get in Ristar's way using his elastic, long arms. He can also swing off of enemies in every which way by holding the B button whil holding onto them, so you can reach secret areas that can't be "reached" otherwise. Combining poles, swinging from pole to pole in certain levels is more fun then any jumping-on-enemy chain ever made in any other traditional platformer, and to top it off, there are these "star handles" in the game you can grab onto and circle around to make you invincle for a short time, only to let go, and blast off into whatever direction you ended up flying off to when you let go.
The designers of this game really pulled off some great level designs that gradually get tougher as you go along, and utilize every gameplay mechanic or move Ristar has, to an almost-artistic extent. There maybe some areas in the first levels that get a bit boring, but once you're into the tougher, later levels, relaxation won't be much of a luxury, as something is always going on. Whether it be enemies, traps, memory games, or just a quick swing from pole-to-pole before lava gets to you event, it will never grow old.
The bosses are just as brilliant as the level designs. At the beginning of every boss fight, Ristar starts just by walking into a small hallway, trying to avoid anything that might possibly get thrown at him before he actually gets into the fight with the boss. Once the boss fight starts, the music changes drastically, and you know you're going into one heck of a fight. Well, maybe not for the first 2 bosses, while they aren't tough, they are definetely fun to play through. Once you get to the 4th boss, the fights are a whole lot more challenging then before, and there's a good bet you'll lose a few lives before you get their pattern down, along with a way to fight them off before you lose all your 4 life stars you need to survive. The last boss is some of the hardest, (and easily most frustrating) bosses I've ever had to play through in any platformer title, and gets rid of any pretensions that this is only a "kid's game." Too bad that if this is for your kid, he'll more then likely never pass it until he's in his teens.
Talking about presentation, for bosses, or level designs, this is the best you'll ever get for graphics, or sound on the Sega Genesis. The game starts out with an exclusive Sega logo presentation, to give you the idea that it had a lot of hard work put into it from the start. Right after the Sega logo leaves, you get a nice intro, showing people from this world asking for help against the evil Greedy, who's captured the "legendary hero," and from the star nursery, the hero's son, Ristar, comes out, to save the day! This is only the start of an absolutely beautiful game, that will almost make you question, "am I playing a SNES title, or Genesis?!" on several occasions. This game has the artistic quality only rivaled by that of either Comix Zone, or Yoshi's Island in the 16-bit era, (and ironically, they all came out in 1995!) Each level in Ristar has more texture detail then most games ever released for SNES, the sprites are well animated, and the amount of parallax backgrounds that Sonic made famous are out of this world. From birds flying in the background, to volcanoes erupting, this game is an absolute marvel to behold. And, once you beat each world, the presentation of Ristar changing worlds will more then likely bring a tear to your eye, as this is the only game that I've ever shed a tear due to it's beautiful presentation.
Not to mention, during all these times of amazing scenery and great presentation, the guys at Sega did not slack off on the audio department. Digitized voices for when Ristar gets hurt, after beating a level, or when starting the game ("play with me!") may sound almost sickingly cute, but fits the look and feel of Ristar very well. The music is where it's at, however. From the beginning intro and first level, you know that this game is going to be a very pleasing experience for your ears, especially if you like the 16-bit musical sound of the Sega Genesis. There is even voices in the music! Oh, and the time where I shed a tear at the end of each world wouldn't have ever happened if it weren't for the excellent score. Any person who has any respect for old video game music will adore this game's score.
Oh yeah, remember when I said this game probably won't be beat by your kid until his teen years? I wasn't lying. This game is tough. Damn tough. To make it even more tough, there's no way to save in the game. Each level in Ristar takes about 5-10 minutes to beat as well, so either you sit through the game all in one sitting, or you'll never pass it. There's always cheats, of course, but if you want to do things the right way, you'll have to set aside a good 3-4 hours to pass this game in one sitting. If you don't have the patience right away, this game will last a long time. And, if you spent any time on this game, it will always keep haunting you to keep coming back to give it another go, even after beating it twice. It's addictive nature is not to be underestimated, and due to it's rarity in the Genesis library, you'll probably never want to sell it. After a few years of owning this game, you will have over 100-200 hours of gameplay logged into it, and you'll probably never know it.
Ristar is frankly, one of the most underappreciated titles of all time. Of course, for collectors, this makes this game more like lost treasure you can always gloat over for years. If you don't own this title for Sega Genesis, or you don't have mega collection, what are you waiting for? This is one of the best games of all time.
~ Dalton Zeal http://www.tailmanteam.net